Pyreflies
by Annaiese
Summary: Names hold power. Yours can break me. One shot, based a few days after Vegnagun's defeat. Spoilers for the game and FFX. Sweet.


Pyreflies danced in the meadow, shooting shimmering waves of light that reflected off the petals and caused them to shine with an iridescent glow. The crash of water on rocks roared in her ears from the surrounding waterfalls and a slight breeze, Rikku didn't even understand how there _could_ be a breeze in the farplane, sent the ends of her hair dancing.

She sighed, replaying the last few days in her mind. Find out your cousin uses a dressphere with the memories of someone who looks exactly like her and who is involved with someone who looks exactly like her lover, check. Find out that said lover is bent on destroying Spira with a big old bad ass machina so he can reunite with said lookalike, check. Defeat said lover by dismantling said machine, check. Reunite with the dream based version of evil baddy, who is madly in love with your cousin, check. And all this while trying to avoid your own lover who is also _waaaay_ too deeply involved in the political machinations of Spira, and who ran away from you at the age of sixteen to join some elite military cult, check.

The pyreflies in front of her shifted forming, a more familiar, if not corporeal form, and Rikku grinned at the smiling face of Keyakku. "Hey there, Key. How's it going? You missed an awesome fight, or I dunno maybe you saw it. Big machina? Lotsa guns? Yea. We took that sucker down. Your brother's been good. He ended up leading a huge group of both Al bhed and yevonities in excavating and repairing machina. Crazy huh? He calls it the Machine Faction, and it's doing really well. Pop's impressed."

"I thought I'd find you here." His voice flowed out, smooth a little rough, as if he still needed to clear the sleep from it. With a huff of breath Gippal sat down next to Rikku, and stared at the form of his dead brother. His eye shifted to Rikku who was gazing at him questioningly.

"Well say something!"

"Cid's girl, he's dead. He can't hear me."

"It doesn't matter, say something anyway."

Gippal sighed, then trying to avoid staring directly at him, it, whatever mumbled something that sounded like "Heya bro." Rikku grinned at more memories gathered around her, displaying faces of those who had passed. Gippal recognized some of them, others he had only heard of, and still more he could only wonder about. There were so many that Gippal felt his heart break even more for the girl sitting next to him. He coughed quietly and wrapped his arm around her in an old gesture of comfort. It wasn't needed, for instead of tears there was a huge smile on her face, and the insubstantial faces of those around were smiling just as widely back, all except one, whose face was hidden by a large red coat.

"Who's that guy?" Gippal asked pointing at the tall man with a scar on his face and a huge sword across his shoulder.

"Sir Auron." Gippal stared, recognizing the sword finally as the one Rikku had in Samurai form. "He taught me how to use a sword."

"I thought that Tye-dye guy did?"

"It's Tidus and no, he's a miserable teacher, he tried to teach me how to use his support spells, complete failure. I still can't cast haste effectively, it always wears off too soon." Gippal laughed, and they sat in companionable silence for awhile broken only by Gippal asking questions about the people around him.

"Hey! Yuna has that same symbol plastered over her chest! What gives?"

Rikku glanced at the image Gippal was pointing out, and her smile grew a little sad. "Sir Jecht. Tidus father."

"Then he was the one who-"

"Who killed our moms? Yea. Well not on purpose, from the way it was explained to me, once you become Sin, you can't control it, it basically would just feed off your life force. Imagine being constantly zapped with drain and osmose for ten years." Gippal winced, having been on the receiving end of those spells during his crimson squad days. Attempting to lighten the mood while this new information processed in his brain Gippal pointed at another figure covered crowding around Rikku.

"That one I know, Lord Braska isn't it? Yuna's father."

"And my uncle," Rikku added. "Y'know, I- I heard them."

"Heard who?" Gippal stared at her.

"Braska, Auron, Jecht. When we were fighting Vegnagun, I heard them, in my head. Whispering words of encouragement or telling me where to aim. Only during that fight though, it was weird, but comforting. Auron was reminding me of things he had taught me during Yuna's pilgrimage, unique ways to inflict the most damage against those monsters. Lord Braska warning me of incoming attacks and Jecht, he was shouting words of encouragement, and… an apology." When Gippal didn't speak she tore her gaze away from the figures before him to stare into his eye. "He said he was sorry that I had to fight, again. That because of him and his family I was away from those I loved for so long. He said he was sorry for the things that he had done as Sin, even though he couldn't control them."

"What did you say back?"

"I thanked him," Rikku smiled, a genuine one, and the veil of sadness that had covered her since the mention of Jecht lifted. "I thanked him, because he was helping us again. Two years ago he held himself back, though the pain most have been unspeakable so that we could defeat Sin for good. He didn't want to hurt his son anymore, or Yuna, or any of us. He wanted it to end, not for him, but for everyone else."

Understanding dawned, and with it a weight Gippal hadn't even realized was resting on his shoulders eased. "You don't love him."

"Who?"

"Tidus."

"Pffffft… no. I mean, when I first met him I did think 'hey, he's cute!' but that was the end of it, and when I ran into him again, he only had eyes for Yuna, and she only had eyes for him."

"So you did like him."

"Well yea, but only because if I squinted real hard, he kind of looked like you." The admission came easily to Rikku, much easier then she had thought it would and with it one of the questions she had been longing to ask him but never found a chance to popped out as well. "Why did you send Paine to join the Gullwings?"

He stammered, whether from her first statement or the question Rikku didn't know. So she turned to stare at him, sitting on her heels with her hands fisted on her knees. Running a hand through his hair, Gippal tried, albeit largely in vain, to collect his thoughts.

"Caught on to that did you?" Rikku grinned, and Gippal laughed, the first real laugh in ages. Since the Crimson squad, since Nooj had shot him, since Rikku. "Let me explain. I left for the crimson squad so I could keep Sin away from you." The smile Rikku had faded at his words and she punched him hard in the arm. "No-don't interrupt, let me get this out. It didn't matter if something happened to me as long as you were safe, that's all the sixteen year old me cared about. Just one word: Rikku." She sucked in a breath at her name, and Gippal chuckled despite himself. "Now you see why I never say it. Name's hold power Rikku. Yours can break me. So I left, because if I couldn't protect you then what the hell was I good for. But no, you have to go _chasing_ Sin and give me an ulcer. I kept thinking that's supposed to be me, I'm supposed to save her, not the other way around. And then you do the impossible. Lady Yuna and her ragtag band of guardians defeats Sin permanently, and then goes into hiding. I can't very well come back now and go 'Hey Rikku, remember me? Your boyfriend. Yea.' So when rumors surfaced that High Guardian Rikku was sphere hunting and made a preemptive strike, I called in a favor."

"Paine."

"Yes, Paine. She owed me, So I asked her to keep an eye on you and make sure you didn't do anything dangerous while I tried to fix the whole Vegnagun mess without dragging you into it."

"Yea, because that worked out _sooo well_," Rikku scrunched up her nose and giggled as he whacked her playfully on the arm.

"Yup. So there I am trying to sort through the perilous Nooj-Baralai-knife-in-the-back-giant-monster-going-to-kill-us-all mess and you pop up asking to go play in Bikanel. I hardly figured I was in a position to kiss you senseless with your cousin there, so I feigned nonchalance.

"And I went right along with it, thinking you had left because you got bored, and determined not to be the clichéd scorned lover," the disgusting tone was directed at herself and her ignorance, and Gippal couldn't help but laugh yet again and the obvious onset of self-pity. He leaned backward, dragging her with him until her head rested on his chest with her hand caught in his over his heart, and the other arm banding around her waist to keep her there. "Now it's my turn to ask a question. Yuna said that you never went to the farplane. I mean, when you were in Guadosalam during her pilgrimage, you waited outside with Auron. I thought it was strange, because you used to say that you wanted to go, you wanted to see your mother. So why didn't you?"

"We Al Bhed have a tendency to avoid the farplane, because loved ones who are missing might appear there, or those we know are dead might not. Unsent become fiends, and how can the hated sacrilegious al bhed ever be given a proper sending? Our loved ones are damned to a fate worse than death, or had been until Yuna brought the calm, and I was afraid."

"I've never known you to be so afraid you stand still," Gippal said as he stroked a hand up and down her arm in a soothing gesture.

"I was afraid you would be there. In the farplane. That you would be dead before I could yell at you for leaving me alone." Rikku sat up suddenly, arms pushing on Gippals chest for support as his one good eye stared into her own, and the tears that threaten to fall swimming madly in them. Reaching up he brushed them away with a gloved hand, before cradling her check against his palm.

"Still want to yell at me?" he asked gently.

Rikku sighed, but it came out as more of a shuddering breath, and replied "No."

"Good," and he kissed her, and the taste was like coming home, finally. "So, I'm thinking about opening a satellite of the machine faction on Kilika. I'll need to be on site for awhile. How about you come help me out? As a subcontractor of course." Rikku grinned, leaning her head on his shoulder as they walked across the meadow and towards to the portal that would lead them home.

"It just so happens I recently purchased an apartment in Kilika, real estate values have plummeted lately and it's a buyers market."

"Well as I'm opening a satellite I'm a bit strapped for cash, perhaps I could bunk with you, not for free of course. I was thinking more of a trade."

"What did you have in mind?" Not entirely sure what game he was up to Rikku turned to look at him, and her eyes narrowed at his hunched figure.

"I was thinking this might cover the first couple of months," he replied taking her hand and sliding a ring with an emerald encircled by diamonds onto her finger. "After that I'm sure we could come to some kind of arrangement. Contingent upon how long you want to be engaged for, I'll want a house for our kids after were married."

Rikku stared, dumbfounded at the golden encrusted sparkle on her hand, then her eyes lifted to his and with a shout she was in his arms and her was mouth fused to his. When they parted, she rested her forehead against his and smiling said "I'll have to ask my landlord, I'm not sure how he feels about extra tenants."

"I'm sure he's a very reasonable man," Gippal said trying desperately to hide his grin.

With narrowed eyes Rikku stared up at him, "you own the building don't you?" 

"Yea, yea I do."

"No wonder rent was so cheap."


End file.
